A strange feeling settled in her chest.
“Please,” he continued, “may we come in?”
Minutes later, they were seated in the living room.
The house felt smaller somehow.
Or maybe the moment felt too big.
Mr. Collins placed a thick folder on the table.
“Your father,” he began carefully, “was not just a modest man living a simple life.”
Sarah frowned slightly.
“What do you mean?”
He opened the folder and turned it toward her.
Documents. Numbers. Accounts.
Assets.
Properties.
Investments.
“I mean,” he said, meeting her eyes, “that your father was the sole owner of a private investment portfolio currently valued at approximately… eight hundred million dollars.”
Silence.
Complete.
Absolute.
Sarah stared at him.
“I… I think there’s been a mistake.”
“There hasn’t,” he replied calmly. “And as his only child… everything now belongs to you.”
PART 3 — The Rise
The world didn’t change in that moment.
But Sarah did.
At first, she couldn’t process it.
Eight hundred million dollars.
